Session 14: The Dark Altar

5th day of Mist In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance

After having dealt with the belgoi, the Guardians headed out into the desert. 

8th day of Mist In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance

After three days of wandering in sand with nothing but sand in sight, the Guardians of Hope were attacked by a couple of mindhunters, who pushed the Guardians into searching for new resources. But in the end, the mindhunters still died.

A couple of hours later, a sandstorm hit the Guardians. After a few hours, it suddenly stopped. Moving on, the Guardians soon almost stumbled over what turned out to be a massive altar of some mysterious black rock, with some even more mysterious symbols. Heian said he had a bad feeling about the altar, warning the others. The Guardians decided to dig out and see what the altar was standing on. As it turns out, the altar was very big (giant-sized) and grounded on a floor of black rock. At this point, the Guardians had to break for the night.

9th day of Mist In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance

The next morning, the Guardians decided to dig on, and managed to clear a very big area of the black floor before they found an edge. Based on the top of the stairs they found, the Guardians deduced that they were on top of a huge pyramid. There were also some huge door-looking plates at the top, covered with magical runes, but they were unable to find a way to open them. Tweeks even tried to cast some fire on the doors, but the spell just bounced back in his face.

He then attempted to climb up on the altar, but fell down as if he had been hit by lightning and lay drooling for a while. He had gotten visions of horrible monsters of destruction.

10th day of Mist In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance

The Guardians of Hope decided to move on, unable to find a way in. After more hours of walking in the desert, they entered the territory of the Ssurrans, marked by skulls on spears. Just as they passed the "line", a huge sand worm burst out of the sand and attack the Guardians. It was a long and hard battle, and pretty much touch and go until the end, when they finally killed off the huge beast.